1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to surgical bone implants for use in fusing two small bone segments (or two ends of a joint) primarily in the hand or the foot, or in any anatomic location in which two bones or bone fragments need to be positioned and secured together.
2. Orientation to the Prior Art
Particularly in podiatric surgery but also throughout orthopedic surgery generally, bringing two bones into desired tight or fused alignment has been challenging and often elusive, particularly with small bones such as in the foot. Prior art connecting devices for small bones have included, without limitation, the “Self-Tapping Screw for Small-Bone Surgery” disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,037,309. In the patent specification of U.S. Pat. No. 7,037,309, moreover, there is further mention of the prior art “Barouk screw.” According to the authors of U.S. Pat. No. 7,037,309, a Barouk screw is generally made of titanium and has a threaded proximal head and a threaded distal shank, and the screw thread of the head has a smaller pitch than that of the distal part, to make the screw self-compressing as to two adjacent bones through which it passes.
Generally, prior known systems for bringing bones into alignment, osteosynthesis or fusion have been less than optimal in that they provide materials which are not implanted from between the two pieces of bone to be joined, or because they involve implants which cannot be removed from the bone without causing serious damage to the bone. A need thus remains for a joint fusion system, particularly a small joint fusion system, in which bone screws are designed to be implanted from the interface of two small bones to be joined and which screws can be removed from the bone as necessary while minimizing damage to the bone.